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Sports

Gimme 5: H-F Field Hockey Duo the Best of Friends

Viking standouts Rachel Greenebaum and Ellice Boskelly are completely different on the field, though.

Homewood-Flossmoor field hockey players Ellice Boskelly and Rachel Greenebaum have a lot in common and are the best of friends. But once they uniforms go on and the action begins, they split up.

Boskelly and Greenebaum play on opposite sides of the field for the Vikings with Boskelly leading the offense and Greenebaum leading the defense. The two also have different stories as to how they started playing the sport.

“It was a lot like ice hockey, but more of a girls sport,” Boskelly said.  “My mom told me to try it and I liked it.”

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“I didn’t plan on playing, but the day before the first practice a friend of mine told me to try it,” Greenebaum said.

The Vikings are the only girls team in the south suburbs that play the sport, so it means they have to travel many miles to face opponents from the northern suburbs. One of the good things about the long travel is that it brings the team together.

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“It helps our team bond,” Boskelly said.  “We bring a lot of food and talk to each other. The only bad part is getting off the bus because we are pretty sore from sitting for so long.”

Greenebuam would describe field hockey to the average observer as a mix of soccer and basketball. She says people say it is a lot like hockey, but the only similarity she sees is that both sports require the use a stick.

“We use a ball instead of puck, and it has the same positions as soccer, but you can only use one side of the stick.”

Asked to describe their coach, Ronnie Falkner, in two words Boskelly and Greenebaum chose the words "great" and "awesome." When asked to describe each other, Boskelly said Greenebaum is “very enthusiastic, positive, gets you going and is good for the team.”

Greenebaum said Boskelly is "aggressive" and intimidates her when they go head-to-head in practice. Greenebaum also said Boskelly is always positives and gets right back up when she falls down.

Both girls hope the summer will allow the team to improve.

“We hope to get closer as a team and stronger so we can win something in the fall,” Boskelly said.

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